Pharmacist who filled narcotics orders halts fight

A man who lost his pharmaceutical license after being accused of filling hundreds of questionable prescriptions for narcotics and ignoring "red flags" that his Huntington Beach pharmacy was being targeted by drug abusers says he will apply for his license again in three years.

Thang Q. Tran on Jan. 31 withdrew his appeal in San Diego Superior Court challenging a state administrative law judge's decision that revoked his license in May 2012 and forced the closure of his pharmacy a month later, court records show.

The California Board of Pharmacy released a reportin May 2012 saying Tran did not keep up-to-date inventory, housed expired medications and "dispensed numerous prescriptions for controlled substances without determining whether any prescription was written for a legitimate medical purpose" at Pacifica Pharmacy at 18682 Beach Blvd.

Investigators found that Tran's pharmacy had dispensed 1,844 prescriptions written by Dr. Lisa Tseng – the Rowland Heights physician charged with murder in connection with the accidental overdose deaths of three men, including a Lake Forest resident.

Tseng is expected to appear in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 8 for a pretrial hearing. She faces three second-degree murder charges, one felony count of prescribing drugs using fraud and 20 felony counts of prescribing dugs without a legitimate purpose.

Tran denied any wrongdoing or liability for the misuse of the medications and told state investigators he had never talked with Tseng, court records show.

Armond Marcarian, Tran's attorney, said they filed the appeal because they disagreed with the administrative law court's findings, but withdrew it to give Tran a chance "to get his life back."

"He wants to have the three-year clock start running, if you will," Marcarian said, referring to the law that allows him to reapply for his license in 2016.

In the meantime, Tran is continuing his pharmaceutical education; he attended a seminar last week covering how to appropriately prescribe and dispense drugs, according to his attorney.

The state started investigating Tran after a 2009 complaint by a man who worked in the same complex the pharmacy had been operating out of since 2004.

The man, whose name was not released in the report, said he observed suspicious activity, including a stream of people going back and forth from the pharmacy to the parking lot, money spread out on dash boards and people approaching vehicles.

At least once, the man reported he saw prescriptions changing hands in the parking lot.

An investigation was launched in 2010. Investigators said they found a list of violations including mismarked prescriptions and outdated medication.

The report concludes Tran should have been aware of "red flags" involving his customers, including nervous behavior, patients paying in cash and driving long distances to fill their prescriptions in Huntington Beach. In some cases, patients traveled more than 35 miles to go to Pacifica Pharmacy, the report said.

Tran told investigators he followed proper pharmacy procedure and stopped filling prescriptions for two doctors he believed were prescribing drugs for non-medical reasons. He said he didn't ask about patients' medical issues and had no problem filling prescriptions for patients who didn't live in the area, the report said.

Alleged illicit activities

Several pages of the 55-page report illustrate Pacifica Pharmacy's handling of prescriptions written by a "Dr. T" – a physician investigators say sent 1,844 prescriptions to Tran's pharmacy from January 2009 through January 2010.

Prescriptions from this "Dr. T," identified only as a physician in Rowland Heights, included OxyContin, Opana, Hydromorphone and Alprazolam, all powerful narcotics often diverted and abused by drug users, according to the documents.

Pacifica Pharmacy has been named in four medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Orange County Superior Court since 2010, court records show. In all of those cases, Tseng is listed as the lead defendant.

"The pharmacies are just as much to blame as the dirty doctors," said Jodi Barber, an Orange County anti-drug activist whose son, Jarrod, died after taking Opana in 2010.

She said Tseng told children to fill their prescriptions at Pacifica and White Front Pharmacy in Costa Mesa, both pharmacies which have been named in civil lawsuits.

"Everything was cash, it was very shady," Barber said.

One of the three murder charges Tseng faces is related to the death of Joseph Rovero. The 21-year-old Arizona State University student died on Dec. 18, 2009 from the combined drug toxicity of Oxycodone, Alprazolam and ethanol (alcohol), according to the Mariposa County Coroner's report.

His mother, April Rovero, testifying in 2011 before a Congressional Sub-Committee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, said her son was told his prescriptions should be filled at Pacifica Pharmacy, where "all of them had their prescriptions filled with no questions asked."

After her son died, Rovero formed the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. She said Tuesday that she believes smaller pharmacies are more likely to form business connections with doctors who overprescribe medications.

She called pharmacies the "last line of defense" in the prescription drug battle.

"They do have the right and the responsibility to push back against doctors who are overprescribing," she said. "They're supposed to catch all that. They're the last ones who have that opportunity. Some of them turn a blind eye."

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